PSYCH 3CC3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Free Recall, Behavioural Sciences, Suggestibility
24 Nov 2014
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Children are highly suggestible and have difficulty separating fact from fantasy and can"t give accurate testimony regardless of it"s personal significance. Research on children"s witness abilities started in the 1970s. Increased # of sexual and child abuse cases. Police officers were responsible in deciding whether a case would go onto prosecution. Many kids testified for abuse against this babysitting couple. Horrible allegations of sexual abuse & ritualistic murders. Leading questions that rewarded kids for the right answer. Eventually everyone was acquitted of all charges against them. Children are able to give accurate testimonies depending on the way they are interviewed. Hard to tell when they are accurate vs. when they are fabricating (making false claims) But, report very little information, need direct probing. Older children are more resistant to leading questions than young children. Forced-choice, yes/no questions are really bad for preschoolers (5-9) When questions were answerable, children performed equally to yes/no questions & wh- questions.
